Dredge bucket



Oct. 27, 1925- J. J. RATTIGAN DREDGE BUCKET Filed May 18, 1921 'JJEATTIM Jvmsm x,

' I BY 1 I (,4

Arrazzvzx Patented Get. 27, 1925,

Jon'n J. RATTIGANQ Q'E ndlvmsrnhnf PENNSYLVAN IA} DREDGE? BI'IQKET.

meats DredgeiBu ckets, of which the fol-- lowingis aspecification.

The present invention relates to o firepairing the Wearing dips of manganese 1 steel buckets, and particularly such-g buckets as are used on sa nd dredgels an d a rneans ofextending theli fe of such buckets alfnost indefinitely- Another objectof the present invention is;to provide dredgebiicl ret having the which receive'tl e ivear bycohtact \vith -a'hard grittyrnaterial such as sand; anda'lso the p arts whichresi st the shockxivhen buckets encounterboivlder s or rocks concealed in; the sand, made of manganese stee'l; while the body sec tion of the bucket yvl -i-ch does not receive such severe treatment inserviceis construct; e dof ordinary cast: or alloyed steel. he-

cos t of lnanufacture ofthe buckets can in this way; greatly-reduced g as the body: sectionoftliebuclietis thereby made of a much less enijen sivez material, and this Without'le ssen mg. the eflicie incy of the buckets The present aii plication bears a certain relation to a u earlier application: which has niatured i nto.

United States lfat ent No; 1,377,52 253 dated May '10, 1921 entitled 'MethOd ofattachingf lips to dredg'e buckets 7 by: the presentyinventor. 7

- In the accompanyingdraavingsQfoianing;

part "o f this specification, I, have shown onef coniplete example of iny invention, and some modifications thereof, constructed according i tQFthe best mode. I ha ve so fiandevisecl for the practical application-of the principles of my invention.

Figure 7 l is a centralvertical section" us 'ad d a 1 1st I Figure 21s a face vieiv 'ottherearportion off-a buckettaken in thedirectiori-ofthearg first because of the;diflicultyzingcutting the Figure 5 is a plan vieiv of Figure 4.

Figure 3 is a pl 11 vlevv on line 3-3of 1921. Serial m. 470 ,7345

- Figure-6' is a plan View of holdingineansused. l

F;ig-1 1re 7 is a transverse'vertical sectioi'r on line 7 7 of. Figure 6;, I i .Fjg f le 8 is a vertical section on line 8 of Figure 6.

Figure 9 is a planzvieiv of a portion oi' a bucket; showing soine rivet. holes" formed" therein. r Figure 10i 1s a diagrammatic elevational V ew of a dredge-bu'cket conveyor, in opera tive-tpositi'on on a sand dredge. I it The numeral 1 indicates aportion of a sandidredge boat, on Which is ordinarily mounted aspider or hexagonal drum 2; an endless conveyor chain 3, and a second spider 4, as sh'oWn'in Figure 10. On the conveyor chain 3; are attached the i buckets 5, 6 etc. The, spider 2 is operatedby power"Within th'elvshi'p or san'd dredge l,- to manipulate the; buckets-5 5 6; etc.; and thereby remove sand fLOHIthG' river bed 7 as is, readily understood; This type-of sand-dredge 01" boat much used on some ofithe large-rivers of this country, inrecoveringrsand from" the river bed, for building and" other* purposes. I

Assand is of. a'--very;grittygand hard nature, the buckets 5, 6 can only,v be, made of extremely; hardj n aterial to Withstand the v grindingfweari, and in'thegpfresent state of the art, .1na;ngan ese steel; has heen 1found' to bepjract fic al'ly' the only useful material for this; purpose, when considered froina commercial as ell as a; mechanical .point of view The manganfl ei buckets.- 8r Figure" 1 re immed'usHallymith an upwardl projectingl ip 9 cast in'wgraLWiththebody 01 the wearif-causerliby; contact withthe sand bed 7 in digging}; But even with inanganese steelthese-l ps 9 soon wearyc'loxvn; even with or below the-edges 10; (if-the; bucket, and the holebucket 8f has to ,be-Ascrapped oi" own: w y," a fix Ot definable: at uthe present time ;either from; aj cominercial or practical View point; to reuse:'tlleseibuckets, 1

a ten plet, and

the bucket; so that this up; 9 takes most of extremely hard manganessteel andxsecon-d'ly,

" uck s ;Q 1 y:;Q. nary-; ster?alloyedfsteet Moreover, these Wornmanganese buckets construction, is also very desirable.

cannot be remelted and cast over into new buckets, because the present refractories used for furnace linings will not withstand the treatment from a chemical point of view. So that, as before stated, these worn manganese buckets are entirely discarded as soon as their lip portions 9 are worn down below approximately the edge level 10. .Vhen it is stated, by way of illustration, that these manganese buckets average in price approximately twenty-five cents a pound, as against a cost of say four to six cents a pound for ordinary cast or plate steel; and that these buckets average from four hundred and fifty to six hundred pounds each; the importance of being able to re-use these manganese discarded buckets is at once seen to approach a matter of great moment in this particular art.

Again with the above facts in mind, it is seen that if any parts of these expensive buckets, can ,be made of less expensive material without lessening their efliciency as a whole, that improvements in the matter of Both of these objects are attained by my invention as described herein. My method of repairing these manganese buckets willbe first described.

The ordinary manganese bucket is usually a single casting provided with integral lugs similar to 11, Figure 3, the latter ,being mounted on an endless chain 3. In this case the lugs 11, the body portion 12, and the lip portion 13, are all cast in one piece. By my method of repairing these buckets, I stand the bucket on its end as in Figures 1 and 5, and secure it by means of the metal housing or stand 14;, and cross-bar 15, the stand 14 being rigidly secured to the foundation 16. The stand 14 has a top bar 40, which preferably is machined on its outer surfaces, and carries a slidable metal collar or casing 17 on which is rotatably mounted at 18 an oxy-acetylene torch 19, having the usual supply of gas and oxygen furnished thereto, and also the cutting or burning tip 20. As shown in Figure 5, as the bucket is securely held by 15, and its attachments, and the slidable casing 17 can be reciprocated along bar 40, and: also the torch 19 rotated about point 18, so that the lip portion 13 of the bucket can be out along the line 21 in practically a straight line, a performance not readily attainable otherwise, on account of the uncertainty of the oxy-acetylene flame when hand operated. This is practically necessary in order to have a straight edge at 21, Figure 1, so that a butt and lap joint can be made by the new lip 13 about to be attached to the body portion 12.

The lip 13, is cast of manganese steel with a number of rivet holes at 22, 23, etc. and in order to form complementary rivet holes in the body portion 12, of the old bucket, a templet 2%, having the proper rivet spacing is mounted on the bar 40, the slidable casing 17 being moved to permit the templet to be placed in proper position over the bucket. The templet 241 has a number of tubular collars 25, preferably lined at 26 with refractory material, so as to protect the material of the bucket at 27 as much as possible when an oxy-acetylene torch tip 28 is introduced into collars 25 for burning the holes 29 through the bucket material 30. The collar 25, it will be understood may be of considerable length, the purpose being to form a guide for the torch tip 28, and burn the hole 29 in as correct spacing location as possible. After the torch tip 28 has been withdrawn the hole will appear as at 31, Figure 9, with a somewhat uneven periphery, and while the material 30 is still in a highly heated condition, a preferably, air-reaming tool 32 is inserted in the collar 25, and the hole 29 reamed to as nearly a perfect circle as possible. It is essential in this connection, that the reaming be performed while the metal 30 is still in a heated condition, because otherwise the hard manganese steel cannot be cut by an ordinary reamer. As soon as all the holes necessary have been made in the body portion 12, both on the sides 33, and bottom 34, the newly cast manganese lip 13, having a shoulder at 21, and an extension at 35, to preferably form the necessary lap, is applied to the body portion 12, and riveted fast in the ordinary way. It is noted that the lip-portion 13 is usually cast with the holes 22, 23 countersunk on the exterior, so that the rivet heads do not project into the sand when the buckets are in operation. The lip 13 is made of thicker material in cross-section than the bucket body 12, and the ends 11, 4:1 of said lip, (see Figure 1) on account of receiving practically all the wear contact with the sand in digging or excavating.

It is seen from the Figures 1 and 3 of the drawings, that the whole front of the cutting-lip 13, is made spoon-shaped, i. e. vertically and transversely bulged outward from the interior of the bucket. The purpose of the particular spoon-shaped form of the cutting-lip is readily appreciated, to wit; to ensure the bucket scooping-up a full load of material from the river bed, so that each bucket is sure to carry a full load, and thus greatly increase the efficiency of the dredging machine shown in Figure 10, a whole.

It is seen that a great deal of the wear 011 the dredge bucket is also carried to the joints 36, 37 of the links 11, and for this reason these links are in my invention made of manganese steel, as well as the lip 13, and in practice, even these manganese links soon wear and have elongated holes at 36,

.37. It is noted that this is also important n hat hen the ink e ngate materially they cannot pass over the spiders 2 and 3, Figure 10, properly.

But it is also seen that the body portion 12, comprising the two end walls 33, the rear wall 38 and part of the bottom 34, re-

ceives practically very little wear and consequently I make this portion of ordinary cast or plate steel, which can be made much cheaper than the manganese steel portions, as before explained, so that the cost of these ordinarily expensive buckets is reduced to less than half of the usual all-manganese bucket. It is seen that the links 11 have flanges 39 and are preferably riveted to the body portion 12 as shown. The bi-nietal bucket just described, it is seen can be readily provided with a new wearing-lip 13, by simply removing and replacing the rivets in the holes 22, 23 etc. as is commonly 'done with other buckets at the present time.

From the above it is seen that I have clevised a new method of attaching manganese lips to worn dredge buckets whereby the latter can be re-used almost indefinitely, and the effect of which is practically revolutionary in this particular art; and secondly I have provided in an article of manufacture, a new type of bi-metal bucket having the wearing portions of extremely hard material adapted to Withstand severe service, and having the remaining portion of said bucket constructed of comparatively softer, less durable, and less expensive material, without detracting from the efficiency and utility of the dredge bucket as a whole.

I claim:

1. A dredge bucket having a body made of comparatively soft material, a pair of connecting links composed of very hard wearing material, and a spoon-shaped cutting-lip of Very hard material covering the whole front and wearing portion of the ends of the bucket and having its front face of much greater thickness than the side walls thereof for resisting the greater service wear on the front portion of the cuttinglip.

2. In a dredge bucket, a body portion of comparatively soft material, a spoon-shaped cutting-lip of very hard material covering the whole front face and wearing portion of the ends of the bucket, and having its front face of much greater thickness than the sidewalls thereof, for resisting the greater amount. of wear on the front portion of the cutting-lip.

3. In a dredge bucket, a cutting-lip covering the whole front face and wearing portion of the ends of said bucket, the front face of said cutting-lip being of greater thickness than theends thereof, and a verticle and transverse spoon-shaped bulge formed in the front Wall of the cutting-lip.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

JOHN J. RATTIGAN. 

